


That Time A Slime Was A Wizard

by KalicoFox



Series: Just Thoughts [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, 転生したらスライムだった件 - 伏瀬 | Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken | Regarding Reincarnated to Slime - Fuse
Genre: Gen, Harry is literally nine years old, TW: temporary character death due to illness, The system is not pleased with this soul shard bullfuckery, Your bog standard system reincarnation thing, also being a slime messes with you a bit, comes with not having all those weird humanish hormones and junk, you know how it goes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 18:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21213236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalicoFox/pseuds/KalicoFox
Summary: When Harry Potter dies at age nine, the entire wizarding world is tipped upside down and shaken.Three years later, something appears in the Forbidden Forest, riling up centaurs, spiders, and unicorns alike."Hi! I'm Harry! I'm nine years old, and I like experimenting with weird plants in my stomach!"This... is going to be interesting.





	That Time A Slime Was A Wizard

**Chapter 1- The Beginning**

Harry coughed, hacking wetly into his blanket as he curled further into a ball. 

He was so  _ cold _ , but Aunt Petunia wouldn’t give him another blanket after he’d already puked on the other one. 

** _Confirmed. Extra Skill: Cold Resistance, acquired._ **

His stomach rolled, and Harry moaned, clutching it as he tried to keep from puking again. He didn’t have a bucket in his cupboard, and his head hurt too much to make it to the bathroom upstairs. He could keep it down, it’d be fine!

His head spiked with pain and Harry lost it, retching miserably over the side of his cot before flopping back onto the cot to curl once again into a ball of misery.

Everything  _ hurt _ . It hurt and he wanted it to  _ stop _ .

** _Confirmed. Extra Skill: Pain Nullification, acquired._ **

The shivering stopped, and Harry kicked off the blanket, forcing himself to uncurl so that the cool air could touch every part of his suddenly too-hot body. He hated the heat; it felt like his skin was too tight. Like it was going to split, and break, and send little bits of Harry everywhere, and then Aunt Petunia would be  _ so mad _ and she’d make Harry clean up all the little bits of himself, and Harry was never able to quite get stains out of the white carpet, and she was going to be  _ so mad _ —

** _Confirmed. Extra Skill: Heat Resistance, acquired._ **

** _Confirmed. Generating a body with no internal structure._ **

** _Extra Skills ‘Heat Resistance’ and ‘Cold Resistance’ have been combined to create Extra Skill: Thermal Fluctuation Resistance._ **

Harry wished that maybe, just once, he could be the scary one. The one that could boss Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley around, and they’d  _ have _ to listen because he was bigger and stronger and meaner than they were. Maybe if he was the scary one, then he could get a bed like Dudley, and medicine that would make his cough better, and Aunt Petunia would let him have a pan so that he wouldn’t have to puke on the floor or his blankets. Maybe if he was the scary one then he could try hunting  _ Dudley  _ for a change, instead of always having to run away.

** _Confirmed. Unique Skill: Predator, acquired._ **

Harry coughed again, burying his burning face in his thin pillow. It didn’t matter anyway. Harry didn’t particularly want to be a bully like Dudley. He’d rather be someone smart, and brave. Like one of those wise old men who lived on mountaintops that people would travel from all over the world to see, just so they could ask advice. Ethan had bragged about his mum bringing home a ‘guru’ that had studied for  _ years _ in some weird temple in Tibet, and he’d said that the guru guy was really old and weird looking, but that his mum had taken all of his advice, so he must have been really smart. 

Harry snorted, then broke into a series of hacking coughs again and curled back up on his side, shivering again. He wouldn’t just be a regular guru though, not like those weird guys he sometimes heard on the telly through his cupboard door. Nah, he’d be the  _ best  _ guru. An  _ elder guru _ , one that all the other gurus would come to and get advice from and everyone would listen because he was so smart and old and wise.

** _Request confirmed. Extra Skill: _ ** ** _Guru_ ** ** _, acquired._ **

**_Following;_** **_Guru_** **_will evolve into the Unique Skill_** **_Elder Guru_****_. _****_Successful._**

Bright purple dots blinked at Harry along the walls of his cupboard. He wasn’t sure where they’d come from, but he blinked back. There was no point in being rude, and they seemed friendly enough.

His hand flapped around in the dark for a second, then grabbed the corner of his blanket and dragged it up around his shoulders. He was so tired of being sick. Maybe he’d feel better in the morning. Maybe his new friendly purple dots would go play with him.

** _Preparing dimensional transmigration._ **

** _Executing._ **

** _Error. Unknown save state._ **

** _Identifying._ **

** _Unknown Soul Fragment Identified. _ **

** _Updating Database. _ **

** _Applying Patch._ **

** _Transmigration Complete. _ **

** _Dimensional Shift cancelled._ **

** _Retry: Y/N_ **

** _Y_ **

** _Stand By._ **

_ “Citizens of Surrey today were shocked as news of the tragic death of a young boy rocked the community. While authorities have yet to release the name of the deceased, several arrests have already been made. Stay tuned to BBC1 where we’ll be bringing you more on this story as it develops.” _

  
  


** _Attempt 2976312: failed._ **

** _Terminating Dimensional Shift._ **

** _Applying Patch._ **

** _Determining Location._ **

** _Locational Shift: Complete._ **

  
  


It was… dark.

Harry frowned, and shifted a little. He didn’t necessarily mind the dark. His cupboard often was, after all, but this dark was different. No matter where he turned, he couldn’t see the little strip of light, or, if it was night time, lighter darkness, underneath his cupboard door.

Harry paused, then shifted again.

That was… different. It felt more like rocking, or bouncing. Rouncing? Boucking?

Tentatively, Harry stretched out an arm.

Something that might have been an arm in another life stretched out and touched something else; something cool and hard and rough.

A… rock?

Harry wobbled toward it and accidentally overshot, landing squarely on it with what felt like it might be his foot, if his foot and his stomach and his throat were all the same part. 

Harry wobbled in place and felt the thing he’d landed on. It was rough like a rock, but the edges didn’t hurt. It was irregular, like a rock, and cool to the touch, like a rock. That meant, Harry concluded, that it was probably a rock. Which meant that he wasn’t in his cupboard.

Which meant…

Harry wasn’t actually sure what that meant.

Hadn’t he been sick? Yeah, he’d been really sick, and Aunt Petunia had been mad, ‘cause Dudley’d gotten sick too. But now he wasn’t hot, or cold, and his head didn’t hurt, but, Harry reflected, taking stock of his own body, that might be because he wasn’t entirely sure that he actually  _ had _ a head. Or arms. Or legs.

Um.

_ Something _ poked at him, and Harry jumped, wobbling in place as a new sense unfolded from within him. It wasn’t very detailed; in fact, it was almost like trying to see without using his glasses, but Harry could  _ see _ now, and that was better than pretty much anything.

He.

Didn’t know what he was looking at, actually.

So, naturally, he reached out and poked it back.

It bent, and then sprang back and, curious, Harry shifted so that he was closer.

Which of course, put him on top of it.

It was small, and slender, with thin parts reaching off of a central stalk and  _ oh _ that made so much sense! It was a plant! But Harry had never seen a plant whose leaves looked like tiny hissing snakes before, so maybe it wasn’t a plant?

Harry watched with fascination, then alarm as the plant abruptly dissolved, and he rocked backward in shock as something that felt/smelled/tasted like green and dust and sunlight swept through him, then abruptly faded away.

What?

Could he… do that again?

A ‘look’ around showed that there was another plant close by, and Harry bobbled over to it, then on top of it, this time paying more attention to what was happening as the tiny snake-things slowed, then stopped, then dissolved.

Weird.

Harry looked around, taking in the enormous trees, moss covered rocks, and the plants all around him. 

Well then.

It took him a while to get used to moving, but after a while Harry was bouncing between trees, dissolving swaths of greenery, and, occasionally, swallowing massive boulders. Sometimes he’d come across something that pinged in his weird not-seeing seeing as an animal, but those usually ran away if he moved toward them at all, so Harry resigned himself to being on his own, with nothing but plants and rocks for company.

Time passed. Harry was pretty sure that he’d been able to keep track, but the fact of the matter was that, since he couldn’t really see anything past general shapes and movement, he honestly could be sure of just  _ how long _ it’d been, so he ended up counting days by when he slept and woke.

Counting that way, it wasn’t until around the middle of the third month that Harry found something new. A lake, right at the edges of the trees, where he couldn’t see it until he’d bounced himself off of one tree, missed the other he was aiming for, and landed with a terrific crash of breaking ice in freezing water.

Oh.

Well that was new.

Harry peered around himself the best he could as he drifted in the slow moving current, then slipped and slid over some algae covered stones before coming to rest on the bottom.

Huh.

He hadn’t known there was a lake, but this is great news! More to explore! More things to taste! Hooray!

Except…

Bouncing didn’t work so well for moving underwater, Harry discovered. It was harder to bounce with the water pushing down on him, and if he got high enough to make it worthwhile, then the current would push him in random directions. That just left him with a slow, creeping slide; dissolving whatever rocks or weeds were in his way as he went. 

Out in the darker water something moved, and Harry froze.

He couldn’t see well enough to see what it was. His almost-sight didn’t work like that. But it worked well enough to show him rhythmic undulations; a thing shaped like a spade, but soft and flexible as it rippled and pulled itself through the water.

Harry stayed very calm and very still until it had passed, then, once he was completely sure it was gone, relaxed so much that he was nearly flat.

That could have gone  _ so much worse. _

But, he brightened, maybe he learned something! Whatever it was was swimming because it was moving water. Maybe Harry could move water and use it to move faster too!

Now how to…

In the end, it took a  _ lot _ of trial and error, but eventually Harry figured out that he could make a sort of ‘pocket’ with his body and then ‘inhale’ a  _ lot _ of water. Then all he had to do was clamp down hard on the pocket, and he went  _ rocketing _ through the surrounding water like a jet ski!

** _Skill: Water Pressure Propulsion, acquired._ **

What?

The split second of inattention was enough for Harry to miss the fact that he’d reached the surface, and a patch of ice sent him into the air, then skipping like a stone across the surface of the lake until he, once again, was sinking.

Okay then. That was. Different.

Try again. But smaller this time.

This time, he managed to boost himself much higher in the water than his bouncing had been taking him, and several repeated ‘inhales’ and ‘exhales’ had him at the surface again, bobbing as the water pressure he was exerting rose and fell.

So, to move… 

Carefully, Harry adjusted the angle of his ‘exhale’ and moved forward. Another adjustment sent him backwards, and, if he had a mouth, Harry would have whooped triumphantly. He could move! Now all he had to do was get back to shore, and he’d be golden.

** _Skill: Water Movement, acquired._ **

What?

His weird almost-sight saw trees in the distance on one side, so Harry adjusted the angle of his ‘exhale’ and headed in that direction. He was so preoccupied with trying to figure out if he’d actually heard another voice, that he didn’t notice the figures waiting on the shore until he bumped into one.

“So this is the creature that has destroyed so much?” 

The voice was deep and gloomy, and, Harry noted slightly sourly, he had  _ no idea _ what was talking. A person, probably? 

“So it seems.” Another equally deep voice _ . _

“Very well.” The first thing sighed, and without another word, stabbed Harry straight through with his spear.

Harry froze, quivering, then pulled away, his body parting around the shaft of the spear and as he started to bounce away as fast as he could.

Behind him one of the things swore, and an arrow  _ ‘thwipped’  _ through his body to sink halfway into the trunk of the nearest tree.

Harry bounced faster and higher, then hit a tree well up the trunk and rebounded off it to hit another tree, then bounced to hit  _ another _ , and ricocheted off of  _ that _ one toward one even deeper in the forest. 

He didn’t stop until he was so deep in the forest that he couldn’t tell if it was dark because the trees were growing so close together, or because the sun had gone down.

Then, and only then, did Harry allow himself to sink into a hollow in the roots of a massive old tree, trembling slightly.

They’d _stabbed him._ _Shot_ him.

But he didn’t hurt. 

Why didn’t he hurt?

** _Answer: The extra skill, Pain Nullification, prevents you from feeling pain._ **

Harry jumped, then huddled further into his little hiding spot, ‘looking’ around wildly.

Who was that? Who’s there?!

** _Answer: This is the effect of your Unique Skill, Elder Guru. Now that your skill has been established, you will be capable of reacting more quickly. Recall is also boosted._ **

Harry paused. Something about that sounded familiar. Elder Guru? Wasn’t that something he’d thought about before? 

He shook himself, it wasn’t important. What was important was that he’d just been _ stabbed  _ with a _ spear _ and he didn’t even know  _ why. _

And it wasn’t like he could talk to them and ask. He couldn’t make any sounds at all.

But then…

Elder Guru?

** _Yes?_ **

How can you hear me?

** _Answer: Communication intent is derived from your aura. Also, the skill: Elder Guru, is considered a part of you and can be communicated with at all times barring skill disrupting barriers._ **

Aura? Wait, like magic? Real magic?

** _Yes._ **

Harry paused, thinking about it. Really, if magic existed, then a lot of stuff made sense. He was something without a solid body, even though he used to be human. Stuff he touched dissolved if he was curious about it and— wait.

Where did that stuff even go? Did it just dissolve forever? Did he eat it? But then, he didn’t poop or anything, so how would that even work?

** _Answer: All items consumed are stored in the stomach of your Unique Skill: Predator._ **

His what now.

** _Predator is a skill that allows you to ingest objects and analyze them within your body. You can then acquire that objects skills. Once the analysis is complete, you may then mimic the object. The stomach stores the objects you ingest, keeping them in stasis. Additionally, it can store and isolate harmful objects that cannot be analyzed._ **

Harry paused, breaking that down.

So… If he ate something, it would just. Sit. In his stomach. Forever. Until he decided to analyze it? Then it would be broken down somehow, and if it could do stuff,  _ he _ would be able to do that same stuff?

** _Affirmative._ **

That. Is.  _ Amazing. _

Elder Guru? Can you please tell me about the stuff I’ve eaten?

** _Analyzing._ **

** _Aconite, an incredibly toxic herb with several uses in complex potions._ **

** _Anjelica, a magical herb used in many curative potions._ **

** _Arnica, a toxic plant that is used in making deadly poisons. Potent healing salves may be made from it as well._ **

** _Asphodel, a powerfully magical plant, this is most commonly used to induce medical comas._ **

On and on the list went, detailing everything from the plants (and some of them were  _ magic! _ Harry very much was going to get back to  _ that _ ), to the rocks, to even the  _ leaves _ that he’d eaten over the course of his three month stay in the forest.

Actually, hearing it all listed out like this was kind of giving him an idea of what those things from before had been talking about. Maybe he’d gone a little bit overboard on eating everything in his path… 

But still! They didn’t have to go straight to the stabbings! He couldn’t have made  _ that _ big of a dent in things!

Could he?

** _Answer: There has been a significant reduction in the amount of plant life in the area due to overharvesting._ **

Well crud. What was he supposed to do about that? He didn’t have a way of finding those things from earlier, and even if he did, he couldn’t talk to apologize, and really, they tried to  _ stab  _ him, so who was even the bad guy here?

Harry puffed himself up for a second, then deflated. No, it was still kind of him. He hadn’t even thought that he might have been causing problems, and now he’d just have to suck it up and face the music.

** _Suggestion: The Extra Skill: Magic Sense may be used by creatures without sight or hearing to emulate those senses. There are many skills that may be used to produce sound._ **

Okay, well that’s good to know. But how did he get new skills?

Elder Guru remained silent, and Harry tried to poke at it.

Elder Guru? How can I get the skill Magic Sense?

** _Answer: Skill acquisition is a measure of a creature’s ability to learn and grow. Critical thinking is imperative to this process._ **

Harry paused. 

What does ‘imperative’ mean?

There was a feeling, almost like a sigh, then,  ** _Necessary. The most important part._ **

Harry sagged even further. 

Oh. So you can’t tell me, then?

** _Affirmative._ **

Harry rocked back and forth for a while, thinking hard, then paused.

Wait. Elder Guru, you said that you were a part of me, right?

** _...Affirmative._ **

Then asking you for help is asking  _ me _ for help, and you can at least give me a place to start working on Magic Sense!

** _…_ **

Elder Guru?

** _… Affirmative. Magic Sense is often activated by ‘reaching’ out to feel fluxuations in the ambient magic. It is sometimes referred to as ‘opening the third eye.’_ **

Huh.

Harry settled more firmly in his little hollow, relaxing until he felt almost more like a puddle than anything else, then closed off his awareness of his almost-sight and  _ reached. _


End file.
